Night Head Genesis Blog Posts

Night Head GenesisAnimation Production: Actas, Horipro, Media BlastersL, Four Some, Bee Media | Director: Yoshio Takeuchi | Storyboard: Masahiko Murata | Music: Shigeru Umebayashi | Original Creator: George IidaIt is said that 70% of the human brain capacity is unused. If humans possess incredible power, it is strongly believed to be lying dormant within this region. This unused 70% brain capacity is known as "Night Head".The famous work 'NIGHT HEAD' is going to break the silence. They were abandoned by their parents because of the psychic power they possessed. They are the Kirihara brothers, who lived in a laboratory within a barrier-protected forest. They have escaped from the laboratory, and a new wave of 'Revolution' is about to arise.A new "Night Head" is about to be awakened. [ OVERALL IMPRESSIONS ]Despite the interesting premise, there are quite a lot of things to complain about its story. I'll tell you my top 3 complains:First are those freakin' recap scenes in almost every episode. If you cut out all those recaps, I believe 20 episodes would've been enough to cover the whole series. Please don't underestimate the memory of your audience; we are capable of remembering significant events even without showing it to us more than thrice.Second, there are still so many parts that have not been explained. Being a mystery series doesn't mean that you'll leave too many things as vague as they are from the beginning.Third is that some things just happened so... conveniently. To be specific, our main characters managed to attain additional special powers... on such a wonderful timing. Some coincidences happen... just when they need it. Some miracles happen.... for the sake of making our main characters win. w00t! Applause to the writer! *sarcastic*Speaking of characters, our beloved brotherly duo seriously got too much spotlight. If you still don't know the younger brother's name after watching a few episodes, there must be something wrong with you. His older brother screams his name for so many times that you'll lose count.Sadly, despite all that focus, they still hadn't been developed that well. Well, yes, there was character development; but it didn't happen gradually. In other words, it just happened, not developed. Like, for example, dear little brother was able to get over his "shock problem" all of a sudden on a certain episode as if he had been doing it often already even though though in previous episodes it was something he couldn't control at all. Hhhmm... that's just weird. At least show him getting used to it little by little, right?But at least, even though our main characters have such special abilities, they don't win all the time. They have weaknesses; they can be outsmarted; they fail. Even with their godly abilities, they're still human.Though the other characters didn't have enough development or background, they weren't fully neglected for no matter how small their roles in the series are, they played a significant part in the story. The villains aren't simply "people who just want to destroy the world" either. They're more complex than they seem, and I love it that they manage to overpower the main characters even though the main characters are supposedly more powerful.Anyway, even though there are some problems with how the story went, it's still very intriguing and remarkable. It has quite a convincing concept about the root of all the supernatural phenomenon... it's even connecting history, mythology, and science.I love how it presented the possible terrors when possessing psychic abilities; being able to read what other people think isn't exactly cool all the time. You've got to excuse the main character who's undergoing breakdowns for seeing such images often.... the negative thoughts of others could be that terrifyingly unpleasant. That's how frightening the human mind could be, no matter the age or background. Even if they're just thoughts, it could already be very dreadful.It had been really good on the psychological horror aspect. It's strongest point, however, is the music! It's really amazing! The songs were nice to listen to, and all the background music, especially the eerie ones, fit the series very well~ No sarcasm this time; the music composer and the artists deserve a huge applause on this =)Aside from the music, one of the things that makes me so pleased with this series is that... even if there had been so much brotherly love drama, at least it didn't go beyond that (believe it or not). Romance isn't the highest form of love; I salute to series which acknowledge other forms of love aside from the eros one.Though I have to admit that it was pretty dull at times... only because this series was just too... serious, ehehe. Some humor would've made this more enjoyable to watch, in my opinion. And seriously, they shouldn't have attempted in including action scenes.... the characters suck so much on it, ehehe.Oh well, despite the numerous flaws, the story concept was just too good that it managed to be interesting and intriguing from beginning to end. You need some patience and tolerance in watching it though, but in exchange you'll get to see one of the most remarkable psychological horror stories out there~
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Night Head Genesis Volume 1<o:p></o:p>
In the first volume of Night Head Genesis, two brothers with psychic abilties are taken from their home to an unnamed institute, becoming human lab rats. Although this theme seems like an open door to abandonment issues, readers will feel less cozy towards it. <o:p></o:p>
<o:p></o:p>The manga should be an instant favorite; the storyline’s foundation consists of an anime series based on a successful live-action J-drama from 1992 that spawned a slew of tie-ins. Unfortunately, the beginning of Night Head Genesis doesn’t make it past the door. The manga format invites readers to pull the welcome mat right from under its ill-paced story.<o:p></o:p>
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Vital Statistics:
Title:
Night Head Genesis
Story:
George Iida
Script & Art:
You Higuri
Original Publisher:
Kodansha
Genre
: Sci-Fi/Supernatural, Drama
Release Info:
Release Date:
11/24/09
US Publisher:
Del Rey Manga
Translator:
Alethea and Athena Nibley
Length:
208 pages
MSRP:
$10.99
Rating:
Older Teen (16+)
The Story
Night Head Genesis: The Anime
Night Head: the J-Drama
Naoto and Naoya are brothers whose parents shipped them off to a research facility where they would be cared for until their adulthood. Naoya can see peoples' thoughts when he touches them, and Naoto has a bad habit of getting angry and causing things to smash, explode, or bleed. You can imagine why their folks kicked them out-- more destructive than a puppy!
After the death of "old man Misaki," whose spiritual powers kept the boys bound to the facility, the twosome head out into the real world, where they're quickly swept up into trying to save the world from a disaster predicted by a man who sees visions of the future.
Night Head Genesis is a manga based on an anime that was based on a live-action television drama called Night Head.
The Review
Cantarella
I love You Higuri's art. She's better known for her historical drama Cantarella (about the insidious Borgia clan) and her yaoi titles, such as Gorgeous Carat and Gakuen Heaven. I remember being surprised when she did character designs for Night Head Genesis, a seinen supernatural drama, when she's so much more well-known for shoujo and yaoi works.
But the art is beautiful and I can't fault it here. Higuri also has a good balance between detailed and less-detailed backgrounds, packing the panels with story and information without overloading them.
...Unfortunately, there's story to deal with. Bishounen fans will probably find something to like between Naoya's meek sweetness and Naoto's constant righteous anger, but I find them both rather whiny. The story's pacing is a little off: the boys are born, kicked out by their parents, kept at the facility, then grown and gone from it within the first chapter. They mysteriously have enough money for a nice apartment, clothes, food, and everything else that they need, as well as a woman on their heels who wants to kill them because she thinks they're the key to the world's destruction.
The story is so fast-paced I never felt like I was really grounded in the characters, their powers, or their world before we ran headlong into a world-saving plot, and by the end of the book I still can't tell you anything about either boy except that Naoya is a wuss and Naoto is protective and sometimes a jerk.
A very brief spoiler here...
The story slammed into this book could easily have been drawn out to two or three volumes. If they wanted to move ahead into whatever comes next that quickly, I would rather they had referred back to this story as a flashback than actually cover it. And actually, I'm a lot more interested in their time at the facility than anything else that happened so far.
This is a Del Rey Manga release, so the translation is solid and flows well. There are translation notes, and a word from the original creator (George Iida) and the mangaka (You Higuri) at the beginning and end, respectively.
All in all, I'm not very impressed with NHG. But if you like your boys pretty and emo, and your stories simple and dramatic, you could probably kill a half-hour with this book...I just recommend borrowing it from a friend or the library. There are better ways to spend your cash. (Might I suggest a couple of other Del Rey supernatural dramas, like
xxxHOLiC
or
Ghost Hunt
?)
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Title: Night Head Genesis Vol 1 Story by: George Iida Manga by: You Higuri Publisher: Del Rey ISBN: 9780345516251 May Contain Spoilers Naoto and Naoya are brothers with such powerful psychic powers that everyone, including their parents, are terrified of them. Confined to a scientific research [...]
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If you’re looking for a series with a bunch of attractive people (particularly guys) designed by a prominent yaoi mangaka and don’t want to watch Gundam 00*, good news! Anime on DVD reports that Media Blasters has licensed Night Head Genesis, which is about a pair of brothers with psychic powers and, uh…some other things.
…I [...]
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Night Head Genesis is an excellent arc-based mystery-series. It focuses on paranormally gifted people, with as main characters to seemingly special ones: Naoto and Naoya. When they were children, they were been locked up inside a research laboratory. The researchers may have had good intentions, it still doesn’t feel good to be locked up, especially [...]
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You know what? I’m surprised to say it, but that actually was a great ending. It’s strange, as I expected this series to fall into the pit of predictability, like so many other series did before it, but no. This actually is the second series, after The Third, that introduces a whole new arc in [...]
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Very interesting, Ark really is gone now. I didn’t realize that after the previous episode, but with Okuhara’s death, they really are gone now. Right now, Night Head Genesis is working towards its finale with its final case. And surprisingly, it even introduces a bunch of characters with just two episodes to go! Was this [...]
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Okay, so what if Naoto awakened again without a good reason? This episode was damn awesome! This is one of the reasons I love shows with lots of mystery. There are just so many things you don’t know, and if they’re revealed in a good way, the results can become awesome. When a show combines [...]
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Hmm, not as good as the previous episodes. It’s probably due to the lack of mystery in this episode, everything was rather straightforward while nothing really was resolved. Still, the new powers who were introduced were interesting. I can understand why Ark needs Sakie, seeing as when you put her under mind-control, some terrifying things [...]
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Rating: 7/10, 7/10, 6.5/10
Impressions:
Well I can’t give this show a high rating if I can only just bare to sit through it. I admit it’s interesting enough, though the psychological genre is one of the few I don’t really like. But then again there are exceptions, like Elfen Lied and Neon Genesis Evangelion. I’ve been [...]
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Haha! That was an awesome episode. I can’t believe how good Night Head Genesis turned out. It had a few bumps in the middle, but right now, the episodes have been getting better and better. This definitely was one of the best episodes of Night Head Genesis yet.
The episode has a fast pacing. So [...]
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Quite a fast pacing. In one episode, the creators ended the parents-arc, eliminated Sonezaki from the main storyline and introduced two new arcs: The Ark-arc and the Futama Yoshiki-arc.
The episode starts like it’s turning back to episode 12 and 13, and it seems like the series returned towards mediocrity again. Sonezaki plays mind games [...]
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I started watching episode 17, only to realize that I had yet to see episode 16. Must’ve missed it. In any case, I’m glad I did check out this episode, as it’s a really excellent one. :)
The cross-references this time now take a focus to three very interesting cases: Shoko, Sonezaki and Naoto and Naoya’s [...]
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Whoa… I can’t help but feel sad for Shouko. Her powers have become so huge that her spirit left her body, forcing her to spend the rest of her life in the state she’s in now. At first, I thought it was quite convenient for her to have such a power, but this is just [...]
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Impressions:
Ok, where should I start? Night head Genesis…something I seriously think is not worth my time. I don’t know what it is, but I just find this show much lower than all the others that I am watching at the moment, apart from Yoake -__-. I got so bored watching episode 13 that I started [...]
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And with this, the second half of Night Head Genesis has begun. And it’s an appropriate start, as it introduces three new antagonists, gives some background about both Naoto and Naoya as Mikuriya and Misaki. It’s a really interesting episode. I really liked it, it’s a very nice contrast with the rather fastly-paced episodes that [...]
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Impressions:
If I were to divide Night Head Genesis in arcs, it would’ve just finished the first major arc: the virus. I earlier thought that this series was a single season show, which meant that that would be the end of the entire series, but it turns out there will be 24 episodes (I think) and [...]
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